The minister told Malaysiakini that based on records provided by 1MDB to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), prior to the settlement agreement, Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) was a subsidiary of IPIC.
He said this was confirmed by the Registrar of Corporate Affairs of the British Virgin Islands through its letter dated Aug 11, 2016.
“It was on this basis that the finance ministry decided to go ahead with the arbitration proceedings,” Johari told the news portal.
Johari, who is overseeing the 1MDB rationalisation plan, had in August last year expressed confidence that 1MDB could win its arbitration dispute against IPIC, based on the documents he had but did not reveal what the document was at that time.
The portal reported that between 2012 and 2014, 1MDB had made various payments totalling US$3.51 billion to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (BVI) (Aabar BVI), which carried a similar name to IPIC’s subsidiary Aabar Investment PJS (Aabar)
However, the actual ownership of Aabar BVI has not been properly ascertained apart from IPIC denying that it was related to the group.
This week, IPIC and 1MDB announced they had resolved the debt dispute with a conditional US$1.2 billion deal.
Under the terms of the agreement reported to the London Stock Exchange, 1MDB will pay the US$1.2 billion in two instalments in July and December to IPIC after proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration.